Ball in general, life on the road… on this blog, either you do or you don't.

Quick updates

I’m just now sitting down to write my stories, but here are the relevant points from today thus far…

* Cards consider themselves a serious player for Schmidt, and Schmidt’s agents consider them serious suitors. Neither side seems to think it will be a problem that STL doesn’t want to go more than three years.

* Cards are close, but not imminent, on a deal with a reliever. They’re looking at three guys, one of whom is Dotel.

* One option they are considering for ’07 is to move Braden Looper to the rotation. Yes, Looper.

-M.

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7 Comments

I’ve been reading about the Looper to the rotation report all day. How serious is this, Matthew? Would he just provide some competition for Wells, Wainwright, and Reyes in Spring Training or do they actually believe he can earn a spot over one of those three? Is there any precedence for a career reliever making a successful transition to the rotation?

“Is there any precedence [sic] for a career reliever making a successful transition to the rotation?” A couple of examples of it working: Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm had one mid-career season where he started most of the time, in 1959 I think, after being a reliever previously. He was quite effective, coming in a full run below the league average ERA, yet went back to the pen the following year. More recently, no less a pitcher than Johan Santana started in the pen — and see where it got him.

This said, I have real misgivings about this one, but you gotta have a starter somewhere, somehow, and think of it this way: if Looper is starting, at least he isn’t coming in as setup man. =8-O

Carp and Schmidt at the top of the rotation sounds pretty good. Schmidt is a legitamate number 1 starter.

Looper as a starter? Does he have enough pithces to go thru the lineup? Has anyone ever done this sucessfully in the past? Starters ususlly become releivers not the other way around. Leave it to TLR to come up with something off the wall. It might work.

I say, put Wainwright in the rotation when Izzy gets back. He is also lagit.

Word is out that Schmidt already signed with the Dodgers. That’s too bad because he could have been a great addition to the rotation. The whole Looper as a starter could be a smoke screen for a possible trade. I really wouldn’t be surprised to see the cards make a trade before the are to sign a big free agent. Jocketty has been known to make decent trades.

Please pass this on to Cards ownership. Crazy, but might work. 1) Trade Izzy and Encarnacion to Boston for Manny. Sign Dotel as closer.(and/or maybe Gagne with incentives)
2) Sign Suppan or Weaver or Mulder(lefty preferred), whichever is easier. Pay the piper for what we know

3) Trade Rolen for ARod. I heard a thought a while back that Rolen might be unhappy. I thought “I wouldn’t trade him for anyone unless it was ARod.” I was being ridiculous. Then I got to thinking…I would make that trade if ARod has 3 yr left on his contract, and NY might too.

Timing is important. Need to sign pitcher and closer first, then Manny trade, then ARod.

If we did all of these successfully, I wouldn’t care what the Cubs do.

Meta

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